Class Guide IN THIS ISSUE | P.25
MAY 6, 2011 VOLUME 19, NO. 17
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INSIDE: WEEKEND | PAGE 18
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Council: what to do with $30 million from Google? MONEY FROM 52-YEAR LAND LEASE MAKES BUDGET CUTS DIFFICULT FOR COUNCIL By Daniel DeBolt
N COURTESY OF THE U.S. NAVY
Navy contractor Amec Environmental installs scaffolds underneath Hangar One’s massive dome.
Hangar One’s windows won’t be saved SIDING REMOVAL DELAYED; UNIQUE WINDOWS TOO DAMAGED TO SALVAGE By Daniel DeBolt
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fter a last minute inspection, NASA officials have decided that Hangar One’s 4,638 unique windows aren’t worth saving, a disappointment for preservationists and Navy history buffs. The decision was explained
in an e-mail from United States Navy official Scott Anderson. An April 28 inspection by NASA found “significant damage to the corrugated windows (cracks, rust, water tightness), and the window attachments (rust, putty, water tightness).” Anderson wrote. “NASA has determined that it is not economically feasible to keep the
windows in-place or to save the windows at all. NASA indicated to the Navy that they were no longer asking for the Navy to save the windows or keep them in-place.” A few of the windows will be saved for history’s sake, Anderson said, but the rest will be See HANGAR ONE, page 13
One injured in downtown house fire By Nick Veronin and Andrea Gemmet
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hortly after 4 a.m. on the morning of April 28, Tim Dobbins, his wife, daughter and the two family cats were stirred by the shriek of their smoke alarm. Dobbins, who rose to investigate, said he initially assumed it was a
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malfunction. It was not, however. A candle had been left burning and the home, located in the 600 block of California Street, which Dobbins and his wife have lived in for the past 28 years was in flames. Everyone made it out of the house safely, including the two cats, and although much was lost in the blaze, Dobbins said, “Things are
looking up. Thank goodness the smoke alarm went off,” Dobbins said. “I’m sure it saved our lives.” Dobbins, a well-known local preschool teacher, said that aside from being grateful everyone made it out alive, the outpouring of community support has really made a See FIRE, page 14
ow that Google has agreed to pay for a $30 million land lease up front, laying off city employees to fix the city’s budget deficit appeared to have much less appeal in Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Google has agreed to make a one-time payment for a 52-year lease of city land — a 9-acre lot at Shoreline Boulevard and Charleston Road where an office building is slated. Meanwhile, the city has been facing recurring budget deficits because rising employee compensation costs are outpacing revenue growth. “I don’t think we need to do cuts at all,” said council member Margaret Abe-Koga. During city budget talks Tuesday council members appeared reticent about making cuts to fill a projected $2.6 million gap next year. “This continual cutting, I think we’ve gotten to the point where there’s not much that can be done there anymore,” said council member Ronit Bryant. “We only have so much to go before the city is no longer the city we want.” With city employees already doing more with less, “at a certain point it just becomes a job to survive,” Bryant said. Instead of layoffs and cuts spread throughout the city’s government to bring expenses in line with revenues, council members suggested that the city begin looking at doing “something radical,” as Bryant said, to
GOINGS ON 22 | MARKETPLACE 30 | MOVIES 21 | REAL ESTATE 32 | VIEWPOINT 16
fix the budget in the future. Abe-Koga seemed to be saying the same thing. “We need to look at what we can do for longer term savings,” she said. Council members pointed to ambitious budget fixes listed on the final tier of proposed budget cuts, which include property tax ballot measures, new land lease revenue, consolidation of city departments and sharing services and their costs with other cities. See BUDGET, page 13
LASD parcel tax passing narrowly By Andrea Gemmet and Nick Veronin
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s the polls closed May 3, Measure E, a new $193 annual parcel tax to benefit local schools had the votes to pass and its proponents were optimistic. However, at least one opponent of the proposal is holding out hope that lastminute ballots will dash the two-thirds majority it needs to pass. Measure E led with 67.1 percent of the vote on Wednesday just before the Voice press deadline. That’s just over the margin of two-thirds that it needs to win. See ELECTION, page 13